ABSTRACT

Dystopian stories and visions of the Apocalypse are nothing new; however in recent years there has been a noticeable surge in the output of this type of theme in literature, art, comic books/graphic novels, video games, TV shows, etc. The reasons for this are not exactly clear; it may partly be as a result of post 9/11 anxieties, the increasing incidence of extreme weather and/or environmental anomalies, chaotic fluctuations in the economy and the uncertain and shifting political landscape in the west in general. Investigating this highly topical and pervasive theme from interdisciplinary perspectives this volume presents various angles on the main topic through critical analyses of selected works of fiction, film, TV shows, video games and more.

chapter |14 pages

Introduction

Welcome to the Beginning of the End of Everything

chapter 1|18 pages

A Light That Never Goes Out

Bare Life and the Possibility of Ethics in McCarthy’s The Road

chapter 3|28 pages

Hopeful Hybridities

Transformative Interspecies Relationships in Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Visual Narratives

chapter 4|16 pages

Dystopia and Utopia after Darwin

Using Evolution to Explain Edward Bulwer Lytton’s The Coming Race

chapter 5|15 pages

Is this the Futu.re?

Russian Cosmism and the Construction of an Immor(t)al Utopia

chapter 7|17 pages

Post-apocalyptic Play

Representations of the End of the City in Video Games

chapter 8|19 pages

The Future in Ruins

The Uses of Derelict Buildings and Monuments in Post-apocalyptic Film and Literature

chapter 9|22 pages

The Zombie as a Pronoun

What Pronouns Are Used and Why?

chapter 11|16 pages

Original Sin as Salvation

The Apocalyptic Boon in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials